In the stillness of the night, they waited—each holding a lamp, each expecting the same arrival. Yet when the moment came, the difference was revealed. Some carried a hidden reserve that kept their light burning. Others, though they looked ready, had nothing to sustain the flame. Delay did not change them—it uncovered them. Readiness is not what is seen in the beginning, but what remains when the waiting grows long. The light that endures is the one that has been prepared f